Ya'll get the other 9,998!

Runners World ranked the top running cities. The one I'm in, Minneapolis St. Paul, ranked number 6. So far I can see why. Out of the 10,000 lakes, I have run around two in the same run. Understand now what they call lakes up here might very well only qualify as good sized ponds in Oklahoma.



So I went our for a bit of a run. I did a figure 8 around two lakes right in the heart of the city. The route can be found here at run.com . I was shooting for 6 miles but the mapper tells me it came out to 7. It was super nice. The lakes aren't like lakes inside Oklahoma cities. Here the lake has a beach and if ya want to go swimming... well go on, what's stopping ya? They had nice trails. They really think outside the box up here. They have separate paths/lanes for bikes and runners. Since there were no bikes "on yer left" it took me like 3 or 4 miles to realize why runners here seemed so focused and peaceful. I was the only person on the trail doing the ingrained turrets syndrome head jerk look over my left shoulder before passing. I think it really stands out here. At the best of times I don't check my rearview till I'm committed to the pass. Then I realize hey I might wanna check for bikes, so it's more of a too little to late last minute panic kinda look over the shoulder. Not really the kind of check that would avoid a collision, more the kind that would merely give me a slight oh boy this is gonna hurt kind of foreknowledge. And apparently it is now habit. So I just told everyone not to worry I was on my meds, and they were controlling my... issues. They really have no choice but to have separate trails, these pictures do not do justice as to how crowded the trails were. Being this far north I think the people here really like to take advantage and get outside in the warm summer months. I have never seen so many pasty white shoulders in my friggin life. After a while I started getting a little self conscious. I've lost more tan this week than these people have seen all year.

Hopefully I have time for yet another run before leaving. This run was very flat, but there is a lot of opportunity for hilly runs here. I have my eye on another location that would have hills and a third lake. Keep your fingers crossed!

Light pink sunburns on rollerblades 8!
miles for the day 7

Word for the day: Beer and Cheese Soup!
Trust me it's one word, sounds like: "OhmylordthisissofriggngoodandtheytopitwithpopcornIjustlearnedIlovesouptoppedwithpopcorn"